After a stunning turn on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10” and now the brand new WOW Presents Plus series “Scroll Patrol,” drag legend Nicole Paige Brooks is just getting started! The newly proclaimed “NPBFAG” is looking back on her career with this new show, but also looking forward towards possible new stages to take on (“Drag Race Live!” anyone)? I sat down to chat with Brooks about her “All Stars” run and her path to becoming a Brooks family member herself.

With your appearance on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10” and now the amazing WOW Presents Plus show Scroll Patrol, who knew that this would be the renaissance of Nicole Page Brooks?

Well I kind of did (laughs). To be honest, I was telling my husband, that being out of town four or five times a month will be good. And now I'm just like, okay, I gotta keep it to 10. I'm not going out of town more than 10 times at the most. I was not expecting in July, I was out of town 21 out of 31 days! I came home cranky; I’m doing that and it's not good for the fans. You know, it's not good for me to show up “off.” I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm trying to pace myself, because that's the real problem is, like, they want you when the show's airing. I'm just like, I'll have to see you after (laughs)!

“Scroll Patrol” is fun because for example, a lot of the girls on Season 17 of “Drag Race” came to fall in love with drag during the “Drag Race” era. Conversely, a lot of the drag you are showing off is the drag that you came up with and it’s such a fanstastic time capsule. Is it as fun for you?

I've always been proud of my drag legacy, the Haus of Shawnna Brooks and my drag family. I don't think a lot of people know that I originally started in Oklahoma City, and I think that's something that's kind of come out in this process. Originally, I started in Oklahoma City, but I was Nicole Cage there, and I was only doing AIDS benefits, cause that's what I did. It was an AIDS charity, and it was a mini pageant and I won that and then that avalanched into being asked to do drag. I did a talent show at the Metro here in Atlanta and I just kept saying yes to gigs, and it just turned into this. I was at a brunch, and somebody was like “RuPaul's doing an online contest of some sort, I signed you up, I just need you to come and approve these photos.” I was at brunch, went over there and after like sixteen martinis I was like, “Yeah I love it!” Atlanta voted me up to the top, apparently they were refreshing their cookies! To almost be on Season One, and then for Season Two, we were asked to sign up for Twitter, Instagram, and we had to be on Facebook and make our fan page. Now, people get on the show due to social media!

Getting to interview queens that literally started drag during the pandemic was truly surreal, and we have had global superstars come out of that time.

I know it's wild. Like, I competed with Lydia (B. Kollins) and I've been doing drag her whole life; literally her entire life. It’s so crazy.

What’s something you got to show off on “Scroll Patrol” that you really were happy, you got your showcase?

I think it's cool that I get to show a lot of the people that I hang out with, you know what I mean? You know, my drag family, and I also like the fact that I look the same! I'm just like, “What year is this from? Are you kidding me?” I literally was just saying because I'm in my 50s now, and I turned 50 and just had a birthday again in July, but I was on set filming when I turned 51. So I didn't really turn 50, I literally have no concept of age because I feel like I've looked the same. I think that's really cool, my aesthetic looks the same and also looking back at all these photos, I made almost everything I'm wearing. Like almost every single one of those pictures from back in the day, I made every single one of those costumes from the headdress to the shoes.

I used to blow my whole apartment up with it. There’d be three costumes under construction, two wigs over there. had my bed in my kitchen and I was using the living room as a drag studio. I just don't have the time to do that anymore. It's really cool to look back and see…yeah, I made that. I made almost every single thing that was in my audition video. The wings, the headdresses, everything. I made all those. You know, it’s just like, “Oh wow.”

That truly speaks to the career that you have had, as well as your longevity. Your career is the template that so many “Drag Race” alumni would love to have.

I think one of the good things about me is that I keep connected with “Drag Race” and the fandom, but I also don't oversaturate myself. I don't put it every single look that I've ever made out on the internet. If you want to see something, I feel like that's for the people who bought the ticket. I don't like to put everything out online. Like, even when I make something new If I’m tagged in it, I might share one or two, but I'm not gonna go and make a whole reel of photos; I’m gonna wear that outfit again! I also think that it’s more for the people who came and saw it in person, you know?

Your drag family remains an essential part of who you are as a performer and person. What is it about drag families from when you were coming up that made up who you are?

Now it's more like, the up and coming girls just want to be part of a “rah rah” girl. Like, “let me claim her she's sickening. Everybody loves her, and if I hang out with her, then I'll be sickening too.” When I came up, me and Shawnna (Brooks), I was a super fan of Shawnna. I still am a super fan of Shawnna. If you ask me my favorite drag queen, it's always gonna be Shawnna. The thing is, I have so much respect for her opinion, for her drag, because I am a fan of her drag. I'm not just a fan of her reputation and her legacy. I'm a fan of her, and what she puts out on the stage and creates. Before I was her daughter, she was always very helpful to me. She would run me up and down and tell me the one thing that was wrong, you know what I mean? If she said you needed to fix your nails or I needed some earrings, and I was happy, that was it. I knew that her opinion was the truth. She wouldn't wait till I came off stage to tell me that something was on wrong or that something looks bad. She got me before I hit the stage and that was before she was my mother. Then everyone just got associated with each other, because we were such good friends. We started hanging out so much that we had a relationship before and then she was like, "Well, if you're my daughter, why don't you have my last name"? So for her birthday in 2000, I just added her last name to the end of mine.

Also, there was an umbrella protection coming from being Shawnna's child, of being a Brooks, because if you knew that I was with her, you left me alone, because she'll cuss you out. Then I started to acquire children, I really gravitated towards people that weren't being told the truth by other people, that people were just blowing smoke up their ass and telling them they were sickening. I was like, “You're not sickening, come over here” (laughs). There is always just something that I saw in them.

Like, Phoenix becoming my daughter. When I found Phoenix, she was wearing headband wigs, and every time she performed, her hair went one way, and she went the other. Everything was a mess until I got a hold of her (laughs). She may not give me the credit, but that’s still the facts.

It's so funny that you were on “All Stars 10” together and you never interacted. That was so wild.

It was so wild! I think if we would have been in a room together, to be honest, I don't know if it would have helped my game, as much as it would have helped her game. Because I'm too motherly, but I know I would have been able to snap her out of that, because she was in her head when she first arrived. I know if I was in the car with her that morning, I could have got her together. As soon as she walked in a room, I saw the angst, the anxiety. I think both of our experiences would have been really different. I would have traded Mistress (Isabelle Brooks) for her (laughs)!

I can't think of anything you haven't done in your career so far. What is one thing left that you want to do? What is something you want to accomplish?

I would love to host a show in Las Vegas, maybe a huge drag show on the Las Vegas strip somewhere? Would like to act more and maybe do stand up comedy, I haven't really done just stand up and not a drag show. There are things that I'm, researching now that I think will perpetuate even a longer career. Where I can sit down in a chair and be funny. But I wanna host “Drag Race Live!” so bad!

“Scroll Patrol” is streaming now on WOW Presents Plus.

Follow Nicole Paige Brooks on Instagram @nicolepaigebrooks